PHOTO: REUTERS[BEIJING] China plans to launch space-based artificial intelligence (AI) data centres over the next five years, state media reported on Thursday (Jan 29), challenging Elon Musk’s plan to deploy SpaceX data centres to the heavens. The new space data centres will “integrate cloud, edge and terminal (device) capabilities”, and achieve the “deep integration of computing power, storage capacity and transmission bandwidth”, enabling data from earth to be processed in space, the report said. US firm SpaceX expects to use funds from its planned US$25 billion initial public offering in 2026 to develop orbital AI data centres in response to terrestrial energy constraints. It plans to launch solar-powered AI data centre satellites within the next two to three years, Musk said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan 22. CASC has vowed to transform China into a “world-leading space power” by 2045.